Giants Make 1st Wave of September Call-Ups

The San Francisco Giants announced their first wave of September call-ups last night, and those players have already joined the Giants today in Colorado.

The Giants called up Juan Perez, Mike Kickham, Hunter Strickland, Chris Dominguez, and Guillermo Quiroz.

Juan Perez will add speed to the Giants and likely will likely be used exclusively as a pinch-runner. Perez also adds more depth to the Giants’ outfield. Perez batted .316 with seven homers, 25 RBI, and a .508 slugging percentage in 48 games for Triple-A Fresno. In 45 games with the Giants this year Perez is batting .175 with one homer and two RBI.

Mike Kickham had a good season in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League with Triple-A Fresno this season. Kickham spent some time up with the Giants last year, but did not pitch well at all posting an 0-3 record and a 10.16 ERA in 28.1 innings while allowing eight home runs.

Kickham found more success this season while in Fresno though as he went 8-8 with a 4.43 ERA in 148.1 innings pitched, while striking out 131 batters.

Hunter Strickland is the only one of the five current call-ups coming from Double-A Richmond. Strickland is a hard-throwing right-handed reliever who can throw up to 97 MPH.

With Richmond this season Strickland owned a 1-1 record and 2.02 ERA in 35.2 innings of relief while striking out 48 batters. Strickland also posted an impressive WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) of 0.81. Stickland had Tommy John surgery in 2013, but made a full recovery and can still throw his fast balls in the high-90s, alongside his split and slider.

Chris Dominguez  — a utility man with Fresno this year playing in right field, left field, third base, and shortstop — had a great season in Triple-A this season. Dominguez became the first player in the Fresno Grizzlies franchise history to record at least 20 doubles, 20 homers, 20 stolen bases and 80 RBI in a single season.

He ended the year with a .274 batting average and .460 slugging percentage. Dominguez can make a run at becoming the Giants starting shortstop in 2015 depending on the off-season he has and his Spring Training in 2015. 

Lastly, Guillermo Quiroz caught in 69 games for the Fresno Grizzlies this season batting .267 with three homers and 23 RBI. Quiroz will add some depth to the Giants catching spot, which is always good to have this late in the season for late inning substitutions along with pinch-hitting spots.